Dvorak's 1st career hat trick lifts Canadiens past Blues

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Christian Dvorak had his first NHL hat trick and the Montreal Canadiens scored three times in a 4:50 span in the second period to rally for a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Dvorak completed the hat trick into an empty net with 1:35 remaining in the third period. He broke through after 13 two-goal games.

“That’s nice,” Dvorak said. “I’ve been close a couple times but it’s kind of nice to get it out of the way, I guess.”

Cole Caufield added two goals and Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky also scored to help the Canadiens win for the second straight game.

Montreal converted on two of three power plays after scoring just one goal in 24 opportunities prior to Saturday night’s contest.

“It feels good,” Suzuki said. “We’ve been, obviously, struggling to score. I think we’ve had good looks most of the games, but to get two tonight against, I think they were a top 5 PK last year, is a big confidence boost for us going into next game.”

Former Blues netminder Jake Allen made 26 saves for his first win in St. Louis since being traded to Montreal in 2020.

Jordan Binnington allowed six goals on 24 shots as St. Louis dropped its fourth straight after starting 3-0-0.

“We scored four goals,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “We should win the game. Them empty nets, we could’ve had seven. So, we’ve got to bear down and do a lot better job of being sharp and being simple and playing for each other. That’s the bottom line.”

Jordan Kyrou scored twice to break a four-game scoreless streak, and Noel Acciari and Vladimir Tarasenko each had a goal for St. Louis.

“It’s unacceptable to play like this,” Tarasenko said. “We have some time before next game. We’ll figure it out. We have to play better at home.”

Dvorak scored his first goal of the season 41 seconds into the third period on a pass that deflected off Blues defenseman Nick Leddy. Dvorak added another 40 seconds later to make it 6-3.

Caufield’s second goal of the game and seventh of the season put Montreal ahead 4-3 for its first lead of the game with 4:14 remaining in the second period. Nick Suzuki earned his second assist of the game on the goal giving him 100 for his career.

“We’re never out of a game,” Caufield said. “I think that’s big for us going forward that we can always look back on something like this against a good team know where we’re down to and fight our way back.”

Caufield scored from the slot with 9:06 remaining in the second period, and Slafkovsky tied it 2:09 later on a power play.

BUCHNEVICH RETURNS:

St. Louis activated F Pavel Buchnevich (lower body injury) off injured reserve and assigned F Josh Leivo to Springfield of the AHL. Buchnevich had missed the last five games after recording a goal and an assist in the Blues’ opener against Columbus Oct. 15. Blues F Brandon Saad missed his fourth straight game with an upper body injury.

UP NEXT:

Canadiens: At Minnesota Tuesday night in the third game of a four-game trip.

Blues: Host Los Angeles on Monday night in the second game of a three-game homestand.

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